Research

25%

One week after Alabama’s new immigration law went into effect in September, an estimated 25% of the Hispanic commercial building workforce had fled the state, Bill Caton, president of Associated General Contractors of Alabama told the Associated Press. Employers have said the law has not only driven illegal immigrants out of the state, but those living their legally. Commercial landscaping company owner Rick Pate told the AP he lost two of his most experienced workers, who were legally in the country, after spending thousands of dollars training them to install irrigation systems.
 

73%

With all the talk of stimulating small business growth, one important factor may be overlooked: Not all small businesses want to grow. A new study “What Do Small Businesses Do?” by University of Chicago professors found the vast majority of owners do not expect to grow nor do they want to. Vistaprint, which offers small businesses everything from stationery to email marketing, found through customer surveys that 73% of businesses do not want to expand beyond 10 employees.  And 40% say they plan to stay small simply because they’re happy with that size.
 

$38 billion

Taxes are rising for some employers as states struggle to repay federal loans for unemployment benefits. Now 27 states collectively owe almost $38 billion in borrowed money to Washington, according to the “Wall Street Journal.” To pay the debt, states are relying on additional taxes. And many employers could face higher federal taxes if states don’t pay their loan balances by November. Starting in January, companies in 22 states will be taxed an additional $21 per employee a year to repay the costs.
 

Lawn & Landscape polled 4,000 readers regarding purchasing plant materials. One of the multiple-choice questions we asked was: